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5 Tips for Achieving a Perfect Grilled Sausage

The ideal sausage is caramel brown on the outside and perfectly cooked & juicy on the inside. Although writing this is easy – making it happen on your grill is a little more complex.

Here are 5 tips for achieving a perfect grilled sausage:

Cook from Room Temperature

For best results, sausages should be cooked from room temperature. This means you should allow them to sit for 30 minutes or so before you move them to the grill. Cooking from room temperature reduces cooking time and makes for evenly cooked, tender meat.

Don’t Break the Casing

Do you prick the casing of your sausages with a fork before you cook them? Many people do – but it’s time to break the habit.

Breaking or scoring the casing allows the juices and fats (basically all the good stuff) to escape from the sausages. As well as loss of flavour, these escaped juices/fats can cause grill flare-ups which can char sausages and be dangerous for BBQers.

To prevent sausages from splitting during cooking, you need to use medium heat. Cooking sausages on high heat leads to a burnt, cracked exterior and a raw centre. Cooking sausages on low heat can lead to an overcooked interior and a lack of sear.

You want the outside of your sausages to be caramelised – i.e. to have an appealing hue of deep brown. You don’t want them to be black and taste like charcoal. For more information about why a great sear is so important when grilling food, check out our previous blog post on the chemical reaction behind a delicious sear.

Use a Gas BBQ

Sausages taste best when they are cooked on a constant, moderate and regulated heat source. Therefore, if possible, we recommend that you cook sausages on a gas BBQ rather than a charcoal one, as the temperature of gas grills is easier to regulate.

Paranoid About Undercooking? Simmer Them First!

If you are paranoid about undercooking your sausages, you can simmer them in boiling water (or even beer for extra flavour) for about 6 minutes before transferring them to the grill for searing.